Re: OBAMA TO VISIT THE ENABLER OF WHITE GENOCIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA NELSON MANDELLAS PRISON CELL..CALLS MANDELA HERO TO THE WORLD & A GEORGE WASHINGTON

[link to thehill.com] Obama ‘deeply humbled’ during visit to Robben Island jailBy Meghashyam Mali - 06/30/13 09:44 AM ETTweet President Obama and his family on Sunday visited South Africa’s Robben Island, the jail where anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

The first family paid tribute to Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president after his release, and others who were imprisoned on the island.

"On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield,” the president and first lady wrote in the guest book, according to a White House pool report. “The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit.”The visit came as the 94-year old Mandela remains hospitalized in critical condition as he battles a serious lung infection. On Saturday, the president met with Mandela’s family members.

In a statement Saturday Obama paid tribute to Mandela and the “profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world - including me.”

The first family stopped by the jail cell where Mandela stayed on the island.

Re: OBAMA TO VISIT THE ENABLER OF WHITE GENOCIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA NELSON MANDELLAS PRISON CELL..CALLS MANDELA HERO TO THE WORLD & A GEORGE WASHINGTON

Quoting: Uncle Fuck Stick

KAS: I can remember back in the 1970s the propaganda was almost incessant -- in every medium here in the US; newspapers, television, radio -- about the incredible "evil" of the so-called Apartheid regime in South Africa, the White government there. And most of these hosts and writers in the media considered the racial policies of that government to constitute a real emergency -- we had to "do something" to bring down this White government. Was it during this period that your awareness was developing?

DF: Absolutely. The whole world had sanctions against us. We were told how we were "oppressing our Blacks" and we looked at our accusers and asked "How are we oppressing them?" They had the highest living standard in the whole of Africa.

And the whole basis of the complaint was that we had "stolen the land from the Blacks." And that's erroneous. We did not. The Blacks were not there before us. The first White settlers arrived in 1652. This was under the aegis of the Dutch East India Company of Holland. At that time there were only Bushmen and Hottentots -- neither of which are Negroes. Bushmen are Sanids and Hottentots are Khoisanids; they are not Negroids. Both these groups died out in 1715 and 1717 in two smallpox epidemics, and what is left of them exists only in the Colored [mixed] population.

The first Blacks didn't come down to our part of Africa until the late 1700s. And they first really started to swamp into South Africa only after gold and diamonds were discovered. And that was due to Cecil Rhodes and his cronies who were importing Black labor from all over. These Blacks came in and worked on contract -- and after, say, three years, they were just let loose. And this is how they came to South Africa.

Today we have something like nine different Black ethnic groups in South Africa, none of which gets on well with the others.

Under the system of Grand Apartheid as devised by Dr. Verwoerd, we tried to give each one of those ethnic groups self-determination -- and we actually gave them parts of our territory in order to draw them out of the White mainland. So we gave them homelands like Bophuthatswana [pop. 2.5 million], which was composed of Tswanas. They come from Botswana, which is a huge country on our border. When we gave them independence, Bophuthatswana was the seventh richest country in Africa -- before they were reintegrated into South Africa when our country was handed over to the ANC. They then reabsorbed all these independent Black nations.[ web.archive.org/web/20060416084452/worldstatesmen.org/South_A​frican_homelands.html ]

KAS: So, basically, South Africa had a policy of separate development -- but it was not a policy...

Re: OBAMA TO VISIT THE ENABLER OF WHITE GENOCIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA NELSON MANDELLAS PRISON CELL..CALLS MANDELA HERO TO THE WORLD & A GEORGE WASHINGTON

It simply amazes me at the tenacity and spirit some people muster up. If I were locked up for 27 years in a shit hole like that, I would be a stark raving mad lunatic. If you ever get to feeling down , and wondering why things seem to suck so much, read the book written by PAPILLON, the movie was good , but nowhere as good as the book.

Re: OBAMA TO VISIT THE ENABLER OF WHITE GENOCIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA NELSON MANDELLAS PRISON CELL..CALLS MANDELA HERO TO THE WORLD & A GEORGE WASHINGTON

[link to abcnews.go.com] "The outpouring of love that we've seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Mandela and this nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit," Obama said. "That's what Mandela represents, that's what South Africa can represent to the world and what brought me back here."

Read More: Obama Says Mandela's a 'Hero for the World'

Later, when asked about his policy toward Africa, Obama again returned to Mandela.

"Mandela shows what was possible when a priority is placed on human dignity, respect for law, that all people are treated equally," Obama said.

"And what Nelson Mandela also stood for is that the well-being of the country is more important than the interests of any one person," Obama continued. "George Washington is admired because after two terms he said enough, I'm going back to being a citizen. There were no term limits, but he said I'm a citizen. I served my time. And it's time for the next person, because that's what democracy is about. And Mandela similarly was able to recognize that, despite how revered he was, that part of this transition process was greater than one person."